Presidency of Salvador Allende

Presidency Of Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende was the president of Chile from 1970 until 1973, and head of the Popular Unity government; he was the first Marxist ever to be elected to the national presidency of a democracy. Though the 1970 election was widely regarded as "lawful," in August 1973 the Chilean senate declared the Allende government to be "unlawful" in large part due to its practice of unconstitutional expropriation of private property. Having lost the support of the democratically elected national legislature and large segments of the population, Allende's presidency was ended by a military coup d'état before he could complete a full term in office.

During his tenure, Chilean politics ascended to a state of civil unrest amid strikes, lockouts, economic sanctions, Central Intelligence Agency-sponsored propaganda, and a failed coup in June 1973. Allende's supporters, some armed with weapons smuggled into Chile by the Soviet block and particularly through Cuban assistance, had begun preparations for a guerrilla war in the event of a "golpe" (coup). Similarly, right-wing groups had accumulated weapons and, by 1973, had begun to resist some of the unlawful and unauthorized expropriations of private property. Whether a "civil war was in the making" is still debated by historians.

On September 11, 1973 a successful coup led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the government of Allende.

During the bombing of the Presidential palace by the Chilean Air Force President Allende allegedly committed suicide, thus, terminating the period of Chilean history known as the "Presidential Republic" (1925–1973).